Access to innovative anticancer medicines in China: a national survey on availability, price and affordability

Autor: Wei Li, Wei Lu, Chi Zhang, Qingqing Yang, Lu Ye, Hongdou Chen, Menglei Wang, Fangfang Zheng, Huan-Huan Wu, Guang-Wen Wan
Jazyk: angličtina
Rok vydání: 2024
Předmět:
Zdroj: BMJ Open, Vol 14, Iss 4 (2024)
Druh dokumentu: article
ISSN: 2044-6055
DOI: 10.1136/bmjopen-2023-077089
Popis: Objectives This study aimed to investigate the availability, price, and affordability of nationally negotiated innovative anticancer medicines in China.Design Retrospective observational study based on data from a nationwide medical database.Data sources/setting Quarterly data about the use of innovative anticancer medicines from 2020 to 2022 were collected from the Chinese Medicine Economic Information Network. This study covered 895 public general hospitals in 30 provincial administrative regions in China. Of the total hospitals, 299 (33.41%) were secondary and 596 (66.59%) were tertiary.Main outcome measures The adjusted WHO and Health Action International methodology was used to calculate the availability and affordability of 33 nationally negotiated innovative anticancer medicines in the investigated hospitals. Price is expressed as the defined daily dose cost.Results On average, the total availability of 33 innovative anticancer medicines increased annually from 2020 to 2022. The median availability of all investigated medicines in tertiary hospitals from 2020 to 2022 was 24.04%, 33.60% and 37.61%, respectively, while the indicators in secondary hospitals were 4.90%, 12.54% and 16.48%, respectively. The adjusted prices of the medicines newly put in Medicare (in March 2021) decreased noticeably, with the decline rate ranging from 39.98% to 82.45% in 2021 compared with those in 2020. Most generic brands were priced much lower than the originator brands. The affordability of anticancer medicines has improved year by year from 2020 to 2022. In comparison, rural residents had lower affordability than urban residents.Conclusions The overall accessibility of 33 nationally negotiated innovative anticancer medicines improved from 2020 to 2022. However, the overall availability of most anticancer medicines in China remained at a low level (less than 50%). Further efforts should be made to sufficiently and equally benefit patients with cancer.
Databáze: Directory of Open Access Journals